5400rpm vs 7200rpm

[arej]

I am looking to buy a new 2.5" hard drive and was wondering if there is any difference between a 5400rpm one and a 7200rpm. If it makes no difference then I might as well go for the cheaper 5400rpm?
I will be using the drive for photo editing and the like so fairly heavy use.

Cheers

[Mandat]

arej said:

I am looking to buy a new 2.5" hard drive and was wondering if there is any difference between a 5400rpm one and a 7200rpm. If it makes no difference then I might as well go for the cheaper 5400rpm?
I will be using the drive for photo editing and the like so fairly heavy use.

Cheers

As with most things in life, faster is better.

[cyberface]

Mandat said:

arej said:

I am looking to buy a new 2.5" hard drive and was wondering if there is any difference between a 5400rpm one and a 7200rpm. If it makes no difference then I might as well go for the cheaper 5400rpm?
I will be using the drive for photo editing and the like so fairly heavy use.

Cheers

As with most things in life, faster is better.

The lack of female participation in the 'computers, gadgets and stuff' forum speaks volumes some times

[Dracoro]

Does the latter one have vtec?

[cs02rm0]

You might want the slower one if your priorities were cost, noise and heat.

[annodomini2]

7200rpm is quicker typically.

5400rpm will use less power.

Being 2.5" I assume its for a laptop, therefore is battery life critical?

[Dracoro]

annodomini2 said:

7200rpm is quicker typically.

5400rpm will use less power.

Being 2.5" I assume its for a laptop, therefore is battery life critical?

Does it? - genuine question.

The faster one will use more power but for shorter periods of time (i.e you ask for X amount of data and it gets it to you quickly so less time in use). Whether this still uses, ultimately, more power than the slower one I don't know, hence the question, rhetorical as it may have sounded

[JamieBeeston]

If you dont know the difference, go for the cheaper.

If you want the best, then the answer is neither, its SSD.

[ErnestM]

Could always go with a 2.5 velociraptor. 10,000rpm...

Don't you hate it when somebody throws another option?

[arej]

annodomini2 said:

Being 2.5" I assume its for a laptop, therefore is battery life critical?

Yes it is for a laptop but no battery life isn't critical as the battery doesn't last at all anymore - I use it effectively as a desktop now.

JamieBeeston said:

If you dont know the difference, go for the cheaper.

If you want the best, then the answer is neither, its SSD.

I have a SSD in my primary laptop and if I could afford another one then I would without a shadow of a doubt but I just want something to get my old laptop back up and running.

Would I notice any difference with a 7200rpm or is it negliable?

Thanks for the input so far.

[Holst]

7200rpm can be a bit louder as well.

I dont think you will notice much difference when photo editing, once you have loaded your applications and photos you wont be using the hard drive much (unless you have low memory)
If you were video editing then the faster drive will be worth it as the files will be so much larger.

On the other hand if you can get away with a smaller storage capacity and you have plenty of cash then a SSD drive will be MUCH better!

[Mag1calTrev0r]

What capacity do you NEED?

Intel have just released the X25-V 40GB. If you photos were stored externally (wise if you ask me) then you'd have a super fast SSD for photo manipulation. Or splash the cash and get the X25-M. The most significant upgrade you'll make!

I've got the X25-M and considering one for my forthcoming Macbook Pro purchase (waiting for the next rev.)

[cjs]

I've just upgraded my Macbook from the standard 120GB 4500rpm drive to a WD 320GB 5400rpm drive and I must say the noise is more noticeable, the old drive was silent. More significant is the vibration from the new drive, I can now feel the new drive spinning, very annoying in my previously silent Mac!

So if noise and vibration are an issue you may want to stick with the lower spin speed as 7200rpm maybe worse.

[paddyhasneeds]

IMO buy the fasted hard drive you can.

Hard drives are the one thing that has not kept up with technology (unless you want to pay the SSD premium) so if you think about it you go out and buy a dual or quad core laptop with 3-4gb of RAM and a fast graphics card but when you switch it on you're waiting on something that hasn't evolved much in the last decade.

[annodomini2]

arej said:

annodomini2 said:

Being 2.5" I assume its for a laptop, therefore is battery life critical?

Yes it is for a laptop but no battery life isn't critical as the battery doesn't last at all anymore - I use it effectively as a desktop now.

JamieBeeston said:

If you dont know the difference, go for the cheaper.

If you want the best, then the answer is neither, its SSD.

I have a SSD in my primary laptop and if I could afford another one then I would without a shadow of a doubt but I just want something to get my old laptop back up and running.

Would I notice any difference with a 7200rpm or is it negliable?

Thanks for the input so far.

Depends on capacity required, per GB SSD's are about 10x the price atm, but they are much much quicker

[Salgar]

Dont do it!

Get the 5400rpm!

If you're buying an internal drive that is. Generally, when buying an internal laptop hard drive, buy 5400rpm or SSD. The reason most don't come with a 7200rpm is the heat. I thought as above, higher numbers, powah, and all that, but turns out it's made my laptop unusably hot, burning your leg kinda hot. You also won't notice the difference unless you're doing hard drive intense stuff such as movie/picture editing or gaming, and even then only a little. That said, you would notice the difference between 5400/7200 and SSD as that's a different kettle of random access time.

[grumbledoak]

I doubt there is much between them overall, pros and cons all the way. Noise would swing it for me; I can tell without looking whether the TiVo or the QNap is plugged in: both have 5400rpm drives.